Idlewild
Universal Pictures | Release Date: August 25, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
13
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Idlewild is diverting enough to suggest all the unexplored avenues in movie musicals. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly Richards
Anyone unfamiliar with or underwhelmed by the music of OutKast will find little in this thin piece of cinematic storytelling. Fans happy to luxuriate in its artistic indulgence, however, will be swept up in the weird, random, fantastic OutKastness of it all. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
This oddball mix of "The Cotton Club" and "Six Feet Under" is a big, beautiful mess. But it offers the not-uninstructive spectacle of talented people stumbling over large and unwieldy ambitions. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
An entertaining mess. It blends together musical styles and dances, historical periods with howling anachronisms, coy, almost childish gimmicks with R-rated sex and violence. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesAnn Powers
Patton and Benjamin can both hold the screen and are great in their musical sequences, but sorry, they aren't actors -- Terrence Howard, as the villain Trumpy, blows them into dust when he's on camera -- and their limited expressiveness detracts from the film's hallucinatory edge. The plot fails them too, as it takes turns we've seen in a dozen melodramas. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
The film only rarely harnesses the power of the anachronistic, funk-driven, beat-heavy rap music that swells its soundtrack. Even the intricately choreographed crowd dance scenes, filled with frenzied movement, are more often stillborn than stimulating. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Idlewild boasts too much personality around the edges--especially in Terrence Howard and Macy Gray's scene-stealing turns--and not enough at its center. It's a vehicle for OutKast's music and personality in which the music and lead roles feel like afterthoughts. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
Idlewild has moments of sticky sentimentality and stretches of dull exposition, but you've got to give it this: It's unpredictable. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The soundtrack is a genre-hopping joy, and each musical number is cleverly staged and creatively choreographed. The problem is the noble mess of a movie that takes up so much space in between. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
It's basically a series of music videos - a few quite good - strung together over two long hours and loosely connected by a weak story line loaded with anachronisms. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleNeva Chonin
If Idlewild had something beyond OutKast's songwriting, it would make a swell musical. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The camerawork is steady, the editing patient, the choreography playful. It's a zippy and inspired piece of moviemaking. But there's one problem. It's playing under the closing credits. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The joint doesn't jump in the musical Idlewild; it just twitches and stumbles. As much a missed opportunity as a terrible tease. Read full review
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